Overview
- Andrew Balding goes into Champions Day on Saturday with a lead of roughly £96,000–£100,000 in the British Flat trainers' championship but much of his chance rests on Kalpana in the Fillies & Mares Stakes.
- Aidan O'Brien made late tactical changes that moved Gstaad into the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and Constitution River into the Champion Stakes, increasing his quality of runners in the two most valuable races.
- The Champion Stakes features a high-profile rematch between Calandagan and Ombudsman that bookmakers and tipsters highlight as the headline duel likely to influence the title outcome.
- Balding has chosen to run Kalpana just 13 days after the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and described her win as a 'must' to keep his bid alive, while there were a small number of morning non-runners such as Johanna Walsh.
- Champions Day's £4.35m purse also has knock-on effects for other year-end prizes, with the leading-sire contest between Night Of Thunder and Frankel separated by about £125,000 and likely to be decided by Ascot results.